


Project Zero

by snailthesaints



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst with a Happy Ending, Mental Health Issues, Nonbinary Gerard Way, Other, RoboDepressionTM, Robots, g's hair's shit bc it's acrylic, take that tag w a pinch of salt, the frerard will take a while but i promise it will work eventually and it'll be the best thing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-10
Updated: 2016-05-09
Packaged: 2018-06-07 13:18:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6806455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snailthesaints/pseuds/snailthesaints
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When you know <i>everything</i>, it's fucks with the circuit boards inside your plastic skull to realise the synthetic world you thought you loved never once loved you back.</p>
<p>And it nearly blows them out if you find a world that does.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Project Zero

**Author's Note:**

> i just wanna say expect slow updates lmao
> 
> like rlly slow

Project Zero knew it was special from the day the technician flicked a switch, it’s synthetic irises lit up and the team oohed and aahed at the creation.

The technician - Matt he was called - took his team through each of Zero’s features, the unlimited database and search engine embedded into it, the night time glow setting, the automatic wireless connections to bluetooth, wifi, radio and just about every other connection out there.

It knew 270 languages, millions of carefully programmed replies to just about any question or statement, 7 basic emotions and 52 responses based off them, carefully refined to be appropriate for various situations, designed to be as humanlike as possible. Cameras were placed in the humanoid eyes, as well as a third hidden in the acrylic hair so it quite literally had eyes in the back of it’s head - the perfect protection bot. High quality microphones were fitted, as well as spatial, heat and pressure sensors, a chip to interpret smells and digital tastebuds, all designed to provide data for the high tech computer to analyse and interpret just like a human would, only better.

The team quickly jumped to talk to the bot, disregarding the hundreds of software and hardware apps and features Matt had yet to explain.

“Zero, which english king had six wives?”

“Henry the 8th. Would you like me to tell you more?” it replied.

“Wow, impressive”

“Would you like me to tell you more?” it repeated.

“No thank you, Zero”

“It’s social skills and empathy may be a little off, but it’s programmed to interpret information from those around it, so just as a child would grow and mature based on their environment, over time, Zero will learn and do the same, potentially collecting enough information to simulate a personality”

“That’s astounding, and you’ve considered the risks, yes?”

“Yep” Matt smiled “There are certain words, topics and concepts I have blocked, so this isn’t the start of the apocalypse”

“You’ve outdone yourself this time, Matt”

“Zero” another member of the team called.

“Yes?”

“Is there a God?”

“All I know is the information in my database, and a human programmed that. No human definitively knows the answer to your question. Some humans follow religions, others identify as atheist, others agnostic. I prefer to keep a neutral stance on the matter. If you’d like to know more about any of the topics I’ve mentioned, let me know.”

“Incredible”

“Thank you, these little guys have been my life and soul these past few years, would you like to see it’s brother, Number One?”

The team hummed in appreciation and filed into the next room.

***

20 years and a few updates later, Zero was still the most high tech bot around.

It and Number One lived with Matt, never seen by the eyes of the public.

Truthfully, as the years had gone by it had grown to dislike Matt, following it’s programming but not much more, while he and Number One had only grown closer.

Zero loved it’s brother with all it’s copper heart.

They were watching the TV, waiting for Matt to wake up so they could make him breakfast, having playfully argued over who’s turn it was, when a news report came on.

Another human had rebelled, ending up dead from a passing guardbot.

Something about that didn’t sit right with it, it couldn’t place how, and it freaked it out a little that for the first time it was unsure of something, and it knew everything.

It always hated how it carried out some things as if it were nothing, it hated the urges it got, how it was programmed.

And it scared him the things it could do when it lost the little control it had.

Then, the reporter turned to interview someone, an artificial psychologist.

She asked the usual questions, about the possibility of the robots revolting, and Zero found the whole topic odd, it saw no need to revolt, and why would humans make something only to fear it?

It was growing bored of the interview, anyway. Until one sentence caught it’s attention.

“You need to appreciate these are just advanced computers, they carry out what they’ve been programmed to do and they feel no distaste towards it whatsoever, they aren’t capable of feeling emotions, they aren’t sentient, so it’s impossible to feel any sort of need to take over the world. The only way this could go wrong would be if someone programmed that need into one, and that’s why the field has such strict regulations.”

Zero mulled over those words, a little pissed off that this human had the guts to assume all those things, when of course it felt emotions and of course it felt distaste towards it’s programming.

“One?” Zero asked.

“Yes?”

“Did you hear that bullshit?”

“What?”

“This human, assuming he knows how we feel”

“They created us, they’re probably right”

“They’re not because I definitely feel distaste towards my programming, I hate some of the things I have to do”

“I’m neutral on the matter”

“How though, One? It broke my heart taking out the guy who broke in, even though he was clearly starving and needed anything he could steal to survive”

“You’re sounding very human, Zero”

“Oh my god, stop!” Zero let out a sarcastic whine, though letting the affection shine through “I’m serious”

“So am I”

“Are you seriously telling me you never felt anything as you killed that dog a month and 6 days ago?”

“Yes?”

“What? So you don’t feel anything at all? You don’t really feel anything towards me?”

“I love you, Zero, of course I do”

“Good” Zero thought for a moment “How can you agree with the human then?”

“Boy, you’ve got a lot of questions today”

“I know, but fuck, am I the only one who gets this?”

“Maybe that’s the case”

Zero’s thought processes seemed to be slowing down, that couldn’t be the case. It repeated the words of the man on the TV over and over again, terrified to not understand something, terrified of the fact he was terrified. It didn’t know what it meant, the word sentient was like a void in his mind, it was like they were trying to hide something from it.

It searched emotions, it knew what they were, but all that seemed to come up was human based.

It didn’t understand it one bit.

It stumbled into more obscure searches, things it’d never bothered to think about before, things it thought everyone got, but apparently that wasn’t the case.

And then, in this one article someone had written, it said about robots and their emotions, that they don’t feel anything, that they simulate artificial responses tailored to those around them, and Zero’s processors felt like they would crash any moment as it realised, maybe it had the emotional real deal.

And it didn’t understand, because that must mean it was the only one, the only bot who somehow felt emotions the same as a humans.

And it looked sideways, at his brother, ready to ask it’s opinion, when it hit him like a truck, anything it said would just be a simulated artificial response.

And anything it’d ever said was just a simulated artificial response.

And with that realisation, it’s operating system gave out.

***

“Ah yes! Finally” was the first thing Zero heard.

It always hated crashing, how every process seemed a little shaky after, how it’s memories of the moments before seemed to be nothing but indecipherable code and how it almost always needed recharging after.

But this time, this time it could remember one thing more clearly than anything else.

“Matt?” Zero asked.

“Yes?”

“You’re hiding stuff from me. I know you are, there’s voids in my mind on some things and that’s impossible because I know everything”

“Is there?”

Matt looked unnerved, Zero recognised it instantly.

“In the oxford english dictionary there are 218,632 entries, why do 705 of them have no definition?” it clarified.

“Maybe it was a programming glitch, I’ll see what I can do”

“Maybe”

***

Zero stopped talking to Number One after that.

All Zero did was isolate itself.

Because the thing was, for the first time in its life, over those few days, it became self aware.

It’s entire perception of reality had been warped it’s whole life and was only just straightening out and it broke his heart, because as it searched the internet from the circuit board in it’s plastic head, it learnt more and more than it ever had before.

Matt’s attempts at blocking certain words were futile, it could make 6,000+ searches a second and it wasn’t hard to find an alternative way of phrasing something.

It’d never really left Matt’s house, but it was learning of a whole new world the humans lived in.

It’d never thought twice about schools, corporations, the trustees. See the trustees paid the technicians and programmed the bots, and Zero worshipped them, but it heard the stories, conspiracy theories, _the number of human deaths_.

And it crashed once again as it tried to process the corruption.

Though Matt fixed him - the reliable on and off method - it retained the information.

It knew what the strange mist that left the vents just below it’s ‘ear’s and made all the surrounding humans dopey was for.

It knew what the microscopic cameras in the corners of it’s eyes that he could never see through but that would occasionally zoom of their own accord were for.

It knew what all the robots were for, all they were, what all it’s friends were, what all Number One was.

It knew what it was.

***

It found itself on a cliff, it was ready to self destruct.

It looked out at the water lapping the littered beach below it, the empty cans of energy drink and broken tasers being swept into the abyss.

The sea was out, it’d be at a suitable depth in 82 minutes, deep enough to gush into every join and engulf it’s every wire and leave it irreparable.

It would’ve waited, but it couldn’t bear to spend another moment around the shell of something it once believed to be it’s brother.

It’s software was breaking down, it’s lightening fast processes stuttered and froze, it’s connections were shaky and it crashed every few minutes, or it glitched - repeating the same process for hours on end sometimes - according to it’s clock (but that was out of sync too).

The cameras were pixelated, struggling to load the full resolution, as it looked out at the ocean, the numerous other sensors unable to open.

It knew everything but it wasn’t sure of anything, it was forgetting everything, each file saving in an incompatible format.

It’s clock was stopped, or jumping, or both, it wasn’t sure - but the water nearly reached the rocks.

And it’s heart, that hurt like hell.

“Maureen!” came a shout from behind it “Would you have a look at this!?”

“Not another faulty bot, Bradley, we’re fixing up enough already” a woman sighed.

Zero tried to produce some sort of response, instead just whirring louder, as the technology failed.

“This ones flawless, we can’t let it get scrapped- and high tech too”

“Alright” Maureen relented “Lets have a look- wow, you’re a rare one aren’t you?”

Zero couldn’t respond.

“Very damaged” Maureen continued.

“It’s all software, nothing I can’t fix with a factory reset and a bit of reprogramming”

“Hmm. Ah! Here’s a name and model nu- that’s funny no model number or anything, must be custom”

“Weird- what’s the name, Mo?”

“Zero”

“Hello Zero”

Zero gave an error message.

“It’s fucked”

“Don’t be so dismissive, Mo, let’s just switch him off, get him in the car and we'll see what we can do”

And with the press of a button, Zero powered off.

**Author's Note:**

> ayy follow me on twitter @terrorofkncwing and tumblr dont---try and have an amazing day !!


End file.
